


Hugs

by Beanenigma



Category: Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26646649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beanenigma/pseuds/Beanenigma
Summary: One hug that turns family into strangersAnd another that turns strangers into family
Kudos: 11





	Hugs

**Author's Note:**

> I kept expecting the book to tell me how Rose and Lissa met, but I never got it so, uh... Here you go

It is beautiful here. That much is true about what Rose’s been told about this place. The trees are sort of pretty, even if they look nothing as they did back home. The buildings look stern and old fashioned, but she has to admit that they do look nice against the lush green of the grass and the blue tint of the sky. 

Not that it matters. This place is stupid. Everything about this is stupid. Stupid Mom. Stupid plane. Stupid school. 

Rose didn’t even want to go to school. She is now eight years old, thank you very much, entirely too old for school. She wanted to stay home and do what she always did: follow her mom around all day, learning the family business. Whenever Mom got angry at her for it, all she had to do was point at Lord Szelsky and say  _ uh, uh, uh… They come first.  _ That was enough to get her out of Rose’s tail, at least until later at night.

But someone gave Mom the terrible idea of sending her to St. Vladimir Academy, of all places. Halfway across the world! How was she to learn anything being that far from the action? And what kind of a name was Vladimir anyway? I mean, could it get more vampire than that? 

Mom did not appreciate the joke, as she normally didn’t. She also didn’t appreciate any of Rose’s funny remarks on the long way here - which isn’t that unusual, so Rose didn’t worry too much. 

That is, until that hug. 

Until that hug, Rose didn’t think she’d actually do it. She thought it was a scare tactic, a way to get her to behave. She never would have dreamed that she’d have the guts. Because Mom was what she’d always been. Even if they never saw eye to eye. Even if she got exasperated all the time. Even if she said harsh words. They were a team. A family.

They’d just taken the tour of the school. Rose was thinking all of this was very funny and she had learned her lesson. Janine knelt down. Opened her arms. 

“Rosemarie”, she said, as she would when she was crossed. “Come here.” 

“Why?” Hugs were for christmas, for birthdays and for bank holidays. That day was just a simple monday. 

“Well, you wouldn’t want me to go without a proper good-bye, would you?” 

“Good-bye?” Rose had looked from her to the Moroi that had given them the tour, her eyes widening as she put the pieces together. “You mean… You’re leaving me here?” 

“Now, don’t be so dramatic. I’m enrolling you here.” Janine gently pushed some hair out of Rose’s face. It was always in her face because it was so short. She swore that once she had say over it, she’d let it grow all the way to her foot. “It will be good for you. A lot of kids your own age.” 

“I don’t even  _ like  _ kids!” Rose shouted, a terrible feeling taking over her stomach. 

“You’re a kid.” Janine gave an exasperated laugh and peeked at the Moroi who was pretending not to listen. “Either way, it’s safer here. There are shields that our home doesn’t.. I can’t worry about you and Lord Szelsky at the same time.” 

It was the first time  _ they come first  _ made sense to Rose. Moroi first. Your daughter second. 

“But…” 

Before she could muster a reply, Janine hugged her. The hug was weird - warmer than it should be. Rose would remember little pieces of it for the next few days. Of the texture of mom’s sweater against her limp arms - too shocked to move. The smell of her hair against Rose’s face. The way she was holding her breath, like she was scared Rose was going to explode. 

There was also a forehead kiss, but Rose was still standing still, unable to react. Then Mom stood up, thanked the Moroi, shook his hand and left. 

It was only after the door closed that Rose woke up. She tried to run after her Janine, she screamed after her. But soon there were other Guardians blocking her way. Other Moroi, too. Teachers, counselors, staff members. They all kept saying the same words. Safe. Fun. New home.  Rose didn’t want stupid safety, stupid fun, or a stupid new home. She just wanted her mother. 

But that hug had changed them. That was the hug that turned Mom into Janine Hathaway. 

Not that it matter what she wants. Everything in this place is about rules. There are rules about time, and lunch, and jokes, and clothes and bed time. And whenever she breaks them - and she does break them a lot - they make her do terrible stuff. Wipe off boards, arrange books or just  _ sit in silence for hours.  _ It’s maddening. 

That also doesn’t help her case of making friends. It’s like the little Moroi spawn can smell trouble. They gather in cliques of royalty, talking loudly every second of the day. The dhampir children are mostly boys - and only seem to be able to talk about sports. They’re also terrified of getting in trouble and run away every time she tries to come close. 

That’s how Rose learns to be sneaky about breaking the rules. She learns, adapts. Names of the teachers, of the Guardians at the door. When they make rolecall. How they deal with rule breakers. She soon knows who’s more likely be distracted while she slips away. When she's got the system figured out, she can do whatever she wants - which isn’t much honestly. Other than school, there’s only grass and trees around. But it’s better than being stuck in a class all day. 

Mostly, she just grabs sticks and hits things with them. She has to train, after all. If she wants to get free from this place and swim back to Scotland and show Janine she made a mistake by sending her away. 

That where she is when a giggling  _ prick  _ shoves her down. 

“Hey!” She screams, struggling to get up. But when she’s got hold of her stick again, her attacker and all of his laughing friends are disappearing through the trees. Before she can run after them, someone else comes running. 

“Andre! Wait up!” A Moroi girl stops a couple of feet away, breathless. She looks at the boys disappearing ahead and lets out a low whine. “Where are you going? Why can’t I come?” 

“Maybe he just doesn’t want you to come.” Rose says, hitting the nearest tree with her stick again. The girl jumps, noticing Rose for the first time. She pales. 

“P-p-please, don’t tell on me! I was just following my brother. I don’t want him to get in trouble.” 

Rose smiles. 

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” She hits the tree harder and the girl walks closer. She has sticky limbs and pretty blonde hair pulled into two pigtails. Rose wishes she could have hair like that. 

“What are you doing?” The girl asks, her green eyes glinting at her fellow troublemaker.

“Training to kill Strigoi.” Rose says matter-of-factly. 

The blonde girl’s eyes squint. 

“Really? I thought you guys only started later…” She rolls one of ther piggy tails in one of her long fingers. “Like… Much later.” 

Rose snorts, not missing a beat.

“Yeah, if they’re in  _ school.  _ But I’m special, you see. I’m going to be a Guardian without school.” 

“Really?” One of her eyebrows shoots up. “Can you do that?” 

“Of course!” Rose says. “All you have to do is know how to fight.” 

She points at the three she has rid of pretty much all of the bark. The Moroi girl nods in agreement and they both admire her hard work. 

“I hope you get to protect me then. I feel safer already.” She looks around at the dark part of the woods where her brother and his friends disappeared, pulling on her sock. 

“Maybe I will.” Rose smiles at her. 

The Moroi girl extends her hand. 

“I’m Lissa.” 

Rose shakes it, solemnly. 

“I’m Rose.” 

As it turns out, Lissa is in her class. Rose never noticed because there is always a small cloud of royalty around her that the girl does her best to ignore. Rose still can’t understand why, but she doesn’t think to contradict her new - and only - friend. 

Lissa asks the teacher to move Rose so they can sit next to each other. The other royal-ings don’t seem that excited about the change - especially after that moves one of their own to the dhampir part of the class. But Rose feels nice sitting next to her. 

They do everything together. They meet in the morning before class and sit next to each other and have lunch together and hold hands on field trips. Sometimes, Lissa will let Rose sneak her out of class so they can play tag on the empty playground. Other times, she will convince Rose to go to her room and let her play dress up. Lissa has a lot of pretty dresses. 

Some days, they talk. They feel like they could talk for hours. About their classmates, about their teachers… They even talk about their family. Lissa tells Rose how Andre used to be so much nicer before he met his douchey friends he keeps hanging out with. How her parents are wonderful people - but sadly wonderfully busy. She talks about their house and their summer house and the castle her dad promised to buy her one day. But when Lissa asks, she’s not sure about what to say about Janine. 

“She’s a jerk.” Rose says with a shrug. “She just… Left me here.” 

Lissa doesn’t push. Rose likes that about her. 

Autumn turns to winter. The school is buried in snow and the middle schoolers, find new fun together. Lissa’s boring friends let Rose play snowball with them, giggling when they’re hit, building forts to hide in. Rose doesn’t let anyone hit Lissa with a snowball. Lissa has better aim anyway, so they work as a team. Even Andre can’t resist good old fun in the snow with his little sister. Rose soon finds he's pretty fun too. 

They make snow angels and an army of snowmen and are taken inside with blue lips and frozen little fingers, but wide smiles on their faces. 

“It’s a shame you can’t come with us for christmas. It would be so much fun with you there.”  Lissa says while Rose uses her friend’s weight to close her suitcase. She didn’t remember having so much when she came - but then again, it had been Janine who made her suitcase when she came. Rose didn't know how to fold clothing like that. 

“I know, right? But my mom would probably not hear about it. She’s such a square…” 

She finally manages to close the suitcase and helps Lissa down. Together, they push the suitcase to the hall where the kids are running up and down excitingly. 

“When is she coming, anyway?” 

“Oh. I don’t know. She didn’t call me or anything. I’m sure she told the school, though.” Rose shrugs, but Lissa makes a weird expression. 

“What if she only comes tomorrow?” Lissa asks. 

“The plane takes a long time. If she comes tomorrow, we’ll miss christmas’ eve.” They stop at the stairs. Rose ponders how they were going to bring it down. Lissa is scratching her chin - something Rose knows her brother always told her not to do. 

“What?” 

“Nothing. I was just… Thinking.” 

“About?” It’s Lissa’s turn to shrug. Rose is starting to get nervous. “Well?” 

“It’s just… You did say your mom was a jerk… And that she’s always busy with her Guardian job… If she didn’t say anything… Do you think… Maybe she won’t come?”

Rose looks at her friend, feeling the same twist in her stomach that she felt the day she was left at this school. That couldn’t be possible. Because even if this wasn’t Mom anymore, this was Janine Hathaway they were talking about. And Janine Hathaway did things right, always. And it was a right thing to come pick up  _ your child _ for christmas. I mean,  _ everyone  _ was going home for christmas. 

She  _ has  _ to come… Right? 

“She has to come.” Rose says, but hates the low tone of her own voice. “Right?” 

“Right. Yeah. Like I said. I was just thinking.” She shakes her head. “Well, I have to go pack too… But I’ll see you after the holidays, right?” 

“Yeah! Yeah.” Rose nods. “Thanks for helping me pack.” 

Lisa waves and goes up the stairs to her room, her long legs fluttering like they barely touched the ground. Rose takes a deep breath and starts moving her bag down the stairs to the main floor, where the parents are meeting their children. There are hugs and kisses and early christmas gifts. 

Rose settles down next to a study table and sits down to wait. She couldn’t give Janine a hug when she left, but she would do it now. Just for the hell of it. It feels like she hasn’t seen her in forever. She even made a drawing - just to see if she could remember her. Maybe it was better to take it just to make sure she would know which mom was hers. She could give it to Janine once she remembered - since she wouldn't need it anymore. She looks at the red hair in the drawing and congratulates herself, comparing it to the hair of the people that come inside the building. 

But in a couple of hours, parents got rarer and rarer, as did the kids. Rose keeps her ground, looking expectantly at the doors. There’s still time to catch a plane. If she comes right… Now! Right… Now! 

Instead of her mom, another dhampir suddenly steps in front of her. 

“Hi, Guardian Hazel.” Rose says, tilting her head so she could still keep watch of the door. “What’s up?” 

“Hey, Rose. I was just wondering why you’ve been sitting here for hours.” 

She looks up at the Guardian, knotting her eyebrows together. 

“It’s christmas break. My mom is coming to pick me up.” She points at the door. “I’m just waiting here so she doesn’t have to go all the way up to my room. She’s coming from Scotland, you know? That’s a long way.” 

“It is a long way.” Guardian Hazel takes a look at Rose’s suitcase. “Let me just… I need to check something.” 

In a second, she is gone and Rose is back to looking at the door. Why does everyone keep asking about this? Maybe Janine was a little late. But she is coming. _ She is. _

Someone else shows up. A Moroi. She asks to sit next to Rose and the girl nods. She’s tired from the position she’s in, so she sits up straight in her chair. She pulls a string Lissa put on her suitcase so she would know it's hers. Lissa thinks about details like that. 

“She’s just late.” Rose murmurs to the Moroi staff member before she has the chance to start. The lady’s face twists painfully. 

“Rose… Your mom didn’t request for you to leave for christmas. You’re spending it here. With us.” 

Rose stands very still in her chair. The feeling is back, worse than ever. Daylight is almost breaking. She spent a whole day sitting here, like an  _ idiot.  _ She thinks of the time she could have spent with her friend that she took to put this suitcase together. She thinks of the hug she would never get to complete. She looks down at the stern face that her mother shows in her drawing. 

She crumples the drawing in a ball and sprints out of the building. 

“Rose!” Someone calls after her, but her thin legs are fast and she knows the terrain better. She’s played on it before the snow. She’s helped build the snow structures all around. The cold wind cuts her face as she runs, but she doesn’t slow down. Her small boots barely leave an impression in the snow as she races. 

She crosses gardens and administrative buildings, and gyms and the high school buildings she would once live in, until she reaches the gates. Black iron gates, surrounded by Guardians. 

A prision. 

“Mooooom!” She calls, hoping her shrill voice will travel across the seas, over to her mother. Drag her here, make her see the mistake she made. “Moooooooooooooooom!”

Janine Hathaway only calls to say she’s very disappointed.  _ Running away from your dorm? I expected more from you.  _ Rose doesn’t reply to a word during the call. There is so much she wants to say, but it all just burns inside her throat.  _ You know better than to throw a tantrum because of a holiday. I’m working, you know that. I can’t keep worrying about you.  _

No. Of course, not. 

She shouldn’t be so surprised though. Most of her dhampir colleagues stayed behind too. They’re a sad bunch on Christmas’ eve, in a half empty cafeteria, being made to hold hands and pray together. On Christmas day, there is church. There is a big tree inside, but no gifts under it. In the afternoon, there are activities. Rose bails. 

She brushes off the snow on top of a bench and sits on it, feeling the cold stone against her bottoms. At least it’s something. Something to feel other than  _ bad.  _ She stays there until there is a signal to go inside. Contrary to her usual instincts to stay there, she does. During the free days, she goes to the meals when she’s supposed to. She sits around during playtime, but participates if she’s required. She stays in her room whenever they have free time. Teachers exchange worried looks and ask if she's okay. Rose shrugs says she thinks she might have a cold and that maybe she shouldn't be with the other kids right now.

She watches New Year fireworks from her bedroom window.

The day finally comes and there is a knock on Rose’s door. She drags herself out of bed to open it, and smiles when she sees it’s Lissa. Her friend jumps on her, hugging her tightly. 

“I missed you so much! You have to tell me everything about your trip! Mine was so boring. Mom and Dad were staying in someone else’s house, can you imagine? Not spending Christmas in your own house? And it was kind of close, so we had to take a car! Andre was being a pain the whole way!” She jumped on top of the bed, settling in for a talk like she’d never left. She looks around. “You unpacked quickly! When did you get here?” 

Rose closes the door slowly and drags herself back to the bed. She pulls the covers over her shoulders and stares at her feet.

“She didn’t come.” 

“What?” Lissa’s already big eyes turn even bigger. 

“She was never coming.” Rose plucked a thread out of her sock. “She said she can’t worry about me.” 

Lissa takes a moment before saying. 

“Oh.” 

Rose takes a deep breath and raises her face to ther friend. 

“Tell me about your Christmas.” 

Lissa mulls it over, biting her bottom lip - another habit her brother tells her to abandon constantly. She probably doesn't want to talk about her super fun Christmas after seeing how miserable Rose is. 

“You know what?” Lissa pulls the strap of the bag she has across her shoulders. She pulls out a small red box with a white bow. “I was saving it for later but… I got you this!” 

“Ah.” Baffled, Rose takes the box like it’s made out of glass. Her finger brushes the pretty handmade bow. “But I… I didn’t get you anything…” 

“It’s okay.” Lissa says, waving a hand. “I got me one too. Come on, open it!” 

Rose almost doesn’t want to undo the bow, but she pulls it anyway and unravels the gift. Sitting inside the small box, is half of a heart. It’s badly cut in half and it says  _ Best.  _ She pulls it by the metal string attached to it. 

“What is this?” 

“It’s a necklace. See?” She pulls out one she’s been wearing under her sweater. It has another part of this heart. It says  _ Friend.  _ “So we can match. And everyone will know we’re best friends.” 

Rose inspects Lissa’ half and then her own. She never had jewelry before. Especially not one so special. She closes her hand around the heart, holding it close to her own. Whatever had been twisting inside of her starts to unravel as she looks confused at the Moroi girl. 

“You want me to be your best friend?” 

Lissa’s head tumbles to the side, but she’s smiling. 

“I want you to be my best friend  _ forever _ .”

And it’s easy like that. To be wanted, to be a part of something. To be important. To have someone to rely on. 

“Thank you.” 

Is all Rose can think to say. She feels something take over her eyes and she tries to get rid of it by rubbing them. It isn’t until Lissa hugs her, laughing at her reaction, that she notices that she’s crying. She didn’t even know she could cry while being so happy. 

And that was the hug that changed them. That was the hug that turned Lissa into  _ sister.  _

  
  



End file.
